Steuart Wilson and John McCormack Sing Vaughan Williams

Vaughan Williams' song cycle On Wenlock Edge has been heard around these parts three times over the years. Twice the work was in its piano and string quartet guise: the first recording with Gervase Elwes (the work's dedicatee), pianist Frederick Kiddle and the London String Quartet; and a 1953 effort by Alexander Young, pianist Gordon Watson and the Sebastian String Quartet. Also we have encountered an orchestral version from 1979, with Robert Tear, the City of Birmingham Symphony and Vernon Handley.

I can't resist adding one more recording: the 1929 Decca set from tenor Steuart Wilson, the Marie Wilson String Quartet and pianist Reginald Paul. I believe this was the second recording of the work, following Elwes' 1917 effort.

Filling out the program are three songs from the Irish tenor John McCormack - Vaughan Williams' "Linden Lea" and "Silent Noon," and a setting of Yeats' "Down by the Salley Gardens."

Wilson and On Wenlock Edge

Steuart Wilson by Elliott & Fry, 1951

The Wilson set is sometimes considered interesting more for historical than artistic reasons. He was an important figure in British musical life, perhaps more for his administrative roles than his tenor voice. His bluff vocal manner was not ideal for Housman's brooding poetry; in "Is My Team Ploughing," he seems to identify less with the dead man's voice than with his live friend who has taken over the deceased's romantic relationship.

In the 1940s, Wilson became an arts administrator, first gaining notice as the music director of the Arts Council of Great Britain - he was knighted for his efforts - then as music director of the BBC. These days when you read about him, it is usually with regard to Sir Adrian Boult's retirement as music director of the BBC Symphony. Wilson insisted that the conductor stand down, and many believe he did so in retribution for Boult's marrying Wilson's ex-wife many years before.

Marie Wilson

In the song cycle, Wilson is accompanied by the a quartet led by Marie Wilson, who was at the time active as a chamber musician. She also had long experience in the Queen's Hall Orchestra and later in the BBC Symphony. Also on hand was pianist Reginald Paul, who recorded regularly during the period as an accompanist, but also as soloist in Saint-Saëns' second piano concerto.

I remastered this set from a lossless needle drop of the 78 set sourced from Internet Archive, patching a few noisy portions in "Bredon Hill" with passages from an LP reissue from my own collection. The relatively early electric recording was harsh sounding, but a small amount of convolution reverberation has made it very listenable.

John McCormack Songs

John McCormack by Howard Coster, 1940

I couldn't resist adding a few more Vaughan Williams songs from the catalogue of the illustrious John McCormack. The tenor recorded extensively, but set down only these two items by Vaughan Williams. They are perhaps the composer's best-known settings: "Linden Lea" and "Silent Noon." McCormack allied perfect diction with careful attention to the words he sang and great flexibility of meter. The result is remarkably satisfying, even though at times he sounds tired. These were made in 1941, at the end of his career.

"Linden Lea" is a setting of an 1859 dialect poem by the Dorset writer William Barnes. In subject it has much in common with Housman's "On Wenlock Edge." One passage reads:

     Let other folk make money faster
     In the air of dark-roomed towns,
     I don't dread a peevish master;
    Though no man may heed my frowns

"Silent Noon" comes from Vaughan Williams' setting of selections from Dante Gabriel Rossetti's The House of Life. Although the cycle is not performed as often as On Wenlock Edge or the Stevenson poems in Songs of Travel, "Silent Noon" is nonetheless one of the composer's best known songs. Both words and music are exceptionally beautiful, amply demonstrated in McCormack's reading. Again, the poem has a pastoral setting, although in this Rossetti likens the landscape's beauty with his love for his companion.

I have added a related work, although not by Vaughan Williams. It is a setting of William Butler Yeats' "Down by the Salley Gardens," a favorite of English composers. Rebecca Clarke, John Ireland, Ivor Gurney and Benjamin Britten all had a go at the poem, but here we have the earliest effort, by Herbert Hughes, who employed the traditional tune "The Moorlough Shore."

Yeats based his 1889 poem on a traditional ballad he had heard, with a theme of regret and loss that resonates well with much of the other material on this program. It contains the famous couplet:

     She bade me take life easy just as the leaves fall from the tree.
     But I being young and foolish, with my darling did not agree.

Gerald Moore

Four years before his death, McCormack was already sick, I believe. This may have led to a weary quality that can be heard in these performances, which is particularly appropriate for "Down by the Salley Gardens."

The fine accompaniments are by the liquid-toned Gerald Moore, who is at one with McCormack's flexible approach.

HMV's sound is very good.

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